shutting the door. the north korean leadership rejects u.s. calls for dialogue. u.s. secretary of state john kerry travels to east asia to find a solution to the tensions on the korean peninsula. he said over the weekend diplomats were ready to talk if north korean leaders dropped their nuclear program. authorities in pyongyang have rejected his overtures.

>> the north korean military is being forced to conduct drills to cope with the u.s. threat. u.s. and south korean personnel have been training together in annual exercises that run until the end of the month. >> the burden remains on pyongyang to take meaningful steps to honor their commitments. they know what they need to do to start showing that. >> ventral said north korea must denuclearize before talks can begin. a military official in south korea said the military may be trying to find a way to end its provocative rhetoric. the north's threats are meant to

convince the domestic audience it can counter the u.s. with its missiles. he said the language is aimed at underscoring kim jong un's leadership at home and there have been no signs of large scale troop movements or e sizes in north korea. u.s. military officials stress the need for caution as the north is unpredictable. he said kim jong un's words and actions should be carefully examined. officers from different u.s. law enforcement agencies are coming through evidence to try to find out who's behind the attack at the boston marathon. two bombs went off killing three people and injuring 176. the bombs went off on monday afternoon. the first knocked back runners who are 30 meters from the finish. the second hit people a short distance away. emergency medical crews rushed

to the scene. the dead included an 8 year old boy. no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. 17 people were seriously wounded. authorities say they're carrying out a criminal probe. they say it's a potentially terrorist investigation. u.s. property barack obama says the bombings were an act of terrorism. >> they were the beginning of our investigation. it will take time to follow every lead and to determine what happened. but we will find out. we will find whoever harmed our citizens, and we will bring them to justice. >> obama says the government is on high alert for a new terror attack. he has called on security authorities to take necessary measures. a japanese marathoner captures some scenes of the chaos and confusion in boston

from a different angle. he was running in the race with a small camera attached to his cap. he was approaching the finish line when the first bomb went off. then 12 seconds later,. he calls the bombings extremely regrettable. he said he'd previously heard boston is one of the safest cities in the united states. italian police have seized billions of dollars in assets from a unit of the japanese broke damage nomura holdings. he said that the group helped an i t italian conceal mibank conceal f loss. investigators found earlier this year that managers at the bank were involved in a cover up. prosecutors are looking into whether former executives are

criminally responsible. the bank traded derivative financial products with no new international and lost hundreds of millions of dollars. they were ordered to seize money from them. the prosecutor said they're investigating two former executives. they suspect the pair made false reports and obstructed investigations. executives say none of their assets have been seized. and they've denied any wrongdoing. a magnitude 7.8 earthquake has struck iran near the border with pakistan. military spokespersons in pakistan say at least 34 people were killed. and media in iran report that one woman was killed there. the earthquake struck in the middle of the afternoon. it hit hardest in a mountainous region straddling the border between iran and pakistan. communications were cut off. authorities are still trying to assess the damage. pakistani media showed an video of offices shaking at a tv station in karachi, about 600 kilometers

from the epicenter. people felt the tremor as far away as new delhi. that's about 1,500 kilometers from the epicenter. the quake shook buildings, sending people running into the streets. a magnitude 6.3 tremor hit southern iran a week ago killing at least 37 people. iranians have seen even worst quakes in the past. in 2003, a magnitude 6.6 quake struck the southeastern city. more than 40,000 people died. and in 1990, a magnitude 7.7 tremor hit northwestern iran, leaving about 35,000 dead. chinese officials say wild birds could be spreading the bird flu strain. among poultry. authorities have found a pigeon infected with the flu. it's the first time the virus has been detected in a wild

bird. the infected wild pigeon was caught in the city. they say the genetic sequence of the virus is similar to those in pigeons sold at a shanghai market. they say wild birds might be spreading the virus to poultry. they'll continue to investigate possible sources and roots of the infection. chinese authorities reported 14 new cases of human infection tuesday bringing the total to 78. 16 people have died. cases of infection have been reported in shanghai and beijing. and the provinces of jiangsu, he nan and anhui. the world health organization says it will send a team of experts to china to assist with the bird flu outbreak. who spokesperson said they are responding to beijing's request.

the team will include u.s. and australian researchers as well as w.h.o. experts. they're expected to travel to china later this week. the team will be joined by chinese experts. they'll conduct analysis for about one week. they'll also study ways to prevent further spread of the virus. who officials say there's still no evidence of human to human of spread. the concern the outbreak may spread in china because the source of the infections has not been found. analysts are looking into the future. they're estimating the pace of growth for economies around the world. joining us now from the business desk. good morning. what do they see? >> good morning. the results overall point to slower growth. those in japan suggest things are picking up. the international monetary fund has upgraded japan's economic outlook the next two years on expectations the country's bold monetary easing policy and weaker yen will help boost its

economy. imf officials released the world's latest economic outlook and slowly downgraded the world economic forecast. and predict it will grow 1.6% this year, up .4 of a percentage point and they doubled the growth forecast next year to 1.4%. they expect the bank of japan's aggressive monetary easing to boost the growth rate. >> japan is forge iing a path o its own. it may have been more likely to call this a 3 1/2 recovery rather than a speed recovery. >> although the yen value has declined significantly in the recent past, the monetary policy followed by the boj is appropriate but at the same time, imf officials urge japan

to work out a long term financial reform saying it is not sustainable. the imf says japan's debt will balloon by 2 1/2 times its domestic gross product by 2018. the u.s. housing market is recovering. the latest figures for new home building is back to the levels of the collapse of lehman brothers in 2008. housing starts in march exceeded 1 million for the first time in about five years, up 7% from the previous month. it was sharply above market expectations. construction of condominiums and other multi-family buildings rose 27%. single housing fell 25%. a fall in home mortgage rates has supported home buyers. the declining rates are due to u.s. monetary easing measures. however, some say this trend is leading to price increases in residential land and construction materials. the markets in the u.s.

rebounded tuesday following positive data, earnings and rebound in the price of gold. the dow jones industrial average ended at 14,756, up more than 1%. the tech heavy nasdaq was up 1.5% at 3 thinks3,264. now to ramin at the new york stock exchange. it got a sharp downgrade and how's the u.s. trading? >> we did get a bit of a boost and the u.s. economic data was supportive. housing starts jumping 7% in march. industrial production also rose and consumer price index or inflationary numbers fell. gold also jumped 2% and earnings results from the likes of coca-cola and johnson & johnson also boosted sentiment.

you would think all of that would result in a positive start to tokyo. let's have a look at the levels. both indexes are in this positive. almost up 1% for the nikkei and the topics is up 1% as well. the nikkei ended lower yesterday, to remind viewers but did rebound quite a bit towards the close as we saw the yen reversing earlier gains on the dollar and continue over its weakening course and boosted stocks and we're seeing continuation helped by the u.s. market. we will watch closely for further indications. investors may be wary making further moves ahead of that g-20 meeting later this week as the yen's weakness has been a concern and we touched on that several times. >> we actually saw some volatility in some currency pairs but the yen is weaker now than this time on monday.

>> exactly. a little bit of volatility. still on a weakening trend, currently 97.65-68. the dollar did fall to 95 yen levels after the bombing in boston and gold dropping 9% but it has come back. the u.s. data i mentioned and you covered also boosted the dollar. the euro yen, 128.72-77, that also bounced back as investors's risk appetite has recovered. there is still a heavy load of earnings coming out of the u.s. later this week for investors to look on including microsoft, idn, morgan stanley and google, as cross quite a few sectors there and economic data. all of that may affect the dollar yen as well. for now, pretty positive start

and we are seeing a rebound. >> thank you. the nikkei is up.8. i will have more news for you later in the hour. for now, a check with other markets. crews at the fukushima daiichi planted in japan have

started work on a project to stop contaminated water from escaping into the environment. they have started work on a project to stop the contaminated water from escaping into the environment. workers for tokyo electric power company discovered three of seven underground storage pools are leaking. tepco officials believe pools one and two may be leak being the most. so they're placing priority on training them. on tuesday workers started transferring with 20 tons per hour from pool two to an above ground tank more than 400 meters away. officials say the process will be long. they plan to step up monitoring to make sure no water escapes during transfer. they estimate they'll be able to move more than 23,000 tons of contaminated water by early june. but the underground pools will continue to leak during the operation. crews will pump any contaminated water they collect back no the fool minimize damage to the environment. tepco officials say the volume of contaminated water is increasing by about 400 tons per day. they'll no longer use the

underground storage pools and plan to install more above ground tanks. they're working on finding a way to decontaminate the water. currently only two of japan's 50 commercial reactors are on line and generating power. a group of citizens has been waging a battle to shut those down. a japanese court ruled there wasn't enough evidence showing the nuclear plant poses a risk. nhk reports. >> reporter: the plaintiffs in this case had hoped for a legal victory. now they're coming to terms with their loss. >> translator: the court decision is really regrettable. >> reporter: the case centers on the ohi plant in fukui prefecture. the operator restarted two reactors there last august. engineers said computer simulations showed the units

would be able to sustain a major earthquake. but some residents weren't convinced. more than 260 of them filed an injunction to force the utility to stop the reactors. they argued faults near the units could be active. and that a quake could trigger a major accident. the judges at the osaka district court disagreed. they ruled there's no evidence proving the faults are active. and they say the plant's operator has put sufficient safety measures in place. this is the first court decision on the safety of a nuclear plant following the accident at fukushima daiichi. plaintiffs across the country have filed more than ten similar cases.

nhk world, osaka. when people read these days, they often turn to electronic devices. one man in the state of wisconsin is encouraging readers to pick up paper books again. any can borrow a book for free provided they leave one in return. his idea has taken off. "nhk world" has his story. >> reporter: small is beautiful when it comes to reading in

america these days. miniature bookshelves like these are popping up on roadsides or in coffee shops across the united states. called little free libraries. they're changing the reading habits of local communities. the idea couldn't be simpler. you grab as many books as you like. and you don't have to bring them back. but you do have to replace them. the rule is, take a book, leave a book. that means the narrow shelves are always full and the stock is always changing. it was todd boll who came up with the idea for the little free library. >> the first library i built in 2009. and this one has number one. >> reporter: he started the project as a tribute to his mother june. she was a schoolteacher and always encouraged people to read more. after she died, he wanted to

cope alive her passion for reading and sharing books. so four years ago, he put up this smallpox in his front yard. word of his little free library is spreading around his community. and many people have reached out to bol as they set up little libraries in their own neighborhoods. he eventually set up an npo, starting a movement that caught media attention. bol collects $35 from people who want to make libraries, send them a nameplate and log their details into his database so the location will be registered on his website. in some cases, he even provides them with books if they don't have enough to get started. in just four years, little free libraries have popped up in more than 5,000 locations. not just in the u.s., but in 36 countries around the world.

publishers have also begun providing books for free. they understand that if people have access to books, they will grow to love reading. >> we're growing now at about 500 to 700 a month. we've been contacted by many people, many literacy groups all around the world. >> reporter: from a small flame, this movement has caught on and it is spreading leak wildfire even across national borders. the major appeal of it is that it brings people together. crystal pepperdine set up a little free library inside a local cafe in flint, michigan. it's turned into a place where people can meet and chat with other book lovers. >> a lot of us have met here because of the little free library. >> reporter: educators are also interested. a school in minnesota contacted bol to discuss ways to get

students more interested in reading. he helped the community around the school to set up one of the little libraries. it's become a hit with many local children. >> i get more concentrated in the book, because like they're just like so interesting to knee me that i get stuck. it's just like, i guess you can say it's fun reading the book. >> the little free library will have the availability of many genres of books that schools cannot always purchase. it definitely improves their comprehension. >> reporter: accessibility to books encourages many people to read. but the little free libraries take this concept one step further, bringing the community together. nhk world, los angeles. time now get a check on the weather. many residents in hong kong are

looking out of their windows and not seeing much. ma shoji explains in morning washington d.c. >> good morning. let me show you a video coming out from hong kong. it is shrouded in smog and skyscrapers barely visible. the pair pollution hit the highest point this year caused by pollutants, mainly nitrogen dioxide. and elder ly, children and peope with respiratory problems are urged to stay inside. and the air quality has improvement, and if you look at these pictures you can see the rain clouds hiring the visibility to about 10 kilometers well enough for you to be driving. the rain could get heavy across

southeasterly areas of china due to the flow in this stationary boundary. we have been seeing rain already in the past 24 hours. this could well have caused some flooding problems. further flooding is also highly concerned across the southern thailand areas. that will move into the central regions of thailand. that could be spread widely and heavy rain could trigger landslides as well as mudslides. to the north, china is looking pretty dry. the high pressure system will be lowering temperatures towards the end of the week. we'll see yellow sand come back again. that could lower visibility slowing in from central china to southern korea. it won't reach japan. we have two systems in japan. we're likely to see thunderstorms in the afternoon hours. another system impacting the northern areas of japan. that includes snow.

we have 10 centimeters reported in the past 24 hours in okay doe. and we will see snow melt and the avalanche risk will be in the higher elevations. at 20 degrees warmer than average and shanghai at 24, that's down to the average range on your thursday. beijing will be down to the single digits at 9 degrees on friday, we're looking at minus 1 degree on your wednesday high. now, moving to north america, we have winter storms slamming the north. north dakota, 70 centimeters, wyoming, 70 centimeters. that's not going to be improving. we have another round of heavy snow across the four corners and upper west region, talking 60 centimeters additional snowfall in higher elevations and the valley side. that will cause major travel disturbances yet again.

underneath that freezing rain and very dangerous for driving conditions. towards the south, due to the two air mass colliding, this collision will be creating severe weather talking large hail in the size of 4 centimeters in diameter, about a walnut size that could do damage. tornadoes cannot be ruled out. there will be active thunderstorms there as well. that's going to shift towards the east. watch out if you're in those vicinities. you can see the pink popping up, heavy rain and sun and bursts of showers might happen. denver, minus 1, and you can see it meandering down to the south hence the collision and severe thunderstorms. here's your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in

tokyo. do stay with us.